how long can you go without talking about food? Oh, and maybe travel too....

25 August 2008

We were picked up at the hotel at 10 and taken to CDG. We were
quite early, but had a small drama going through security into the
waiting area. I had completely forgotten that the pate and cheese
knives I had bought in Venice, with Murano glass handles, were in the
hand luggage. Of course, the scanner picked them up. The French
security guard was very nice, I know she realised that they were
expensive presents. She said the pate knives were OK as they were
blunt and fat bladed, but the cheese knives had to go. She advised me
to go back through customs and put the knives in a bag and check them
through to Sydney, but that would mean unpacking one of the backpacks
and lugging whatever was in that by hand – it was all too much
trouble for 20E. So we lost the 2 knives, totally due to my
forgetfulness. Sigh.

The trip was pretty good, much better than coming over, and I
think that was because we had the 5 hour delay in Hong Kong on the
trip over. Without any delays, the trip home was fast and
comfortable.

We arrived back to a freezing cold night, and even though we put
on all the heaters and all our coats, were not able to warm up for
days. It's a very cold August, apparently.

Well, today is actually 24th August, and I have just
finished posting the last week in France. So how does it feel to be
home again?

Last day in Paris!! Panic is setting is as there's so
much to see and do and yet one of the loveliest things to do in Paris
is nothing!!

Here's the column at Bastille

We're going out without our friends today, as they
have another 2 days here but we are panicking!

We catch the metro here and the Louvre is our first
stop, except we all have to get off the train at Chatelet and get
separated. J and I gt to the Louvre but no boys. We soon meet G, but
N is missing for some time. Eventually we all meet up and buy out
tickets.

We enter the Louvre just ahead of the large tour
buses. We visit the Mona Lisa because you have to, then we all visit
the Winged Victory, as she's my favourite

Now we split up. G and I go one way, J and N to visit
the Greek and Roman section. G and I separate for 40 minutes, and I
visit the Italian masters while he looks for the Venus de Milo.

I get a bit lost in the Italian Masters and can't
find my way to the Sully wing, as I have lost my map. Eventually I
find it, after walking three times through the Long Gallery!! I
wanted to visit the exhibition of the Medieval Louvre, which shows
the parts of the Louvre that existed in medieval times when it was
still a castle. It's fascinating, seeing these bits under the modern
Louvre

Back up into the daylight, and G and I meet up again
and head for Notre Dame. We decide to walk from the Louvre, even
though already my feet are killing me!

We pass Sainte-Chapelle on the way,

and I would really like to take G into it to see the
exquisite windows, but there's a queue, and Notre Dame is just ahead

We walk up to the beautiful facade

and through the doors below it

and go in and walk around. Here's one of the stained
glass windows

It's pretty full, and there's a service going on, though any
semblance of peace, quiet and reflective thinking seems a
long-forgotten concept here.

We leave eventually and cross the Seine to the Left
Bank.

We stop for a cool drink and have a large salad each,
at a cafe facing the Rue de la Bucherie. After lunch we split up, G
is going to the Champs Elysees for some serious shopping, and I am
going to Shakespeare and Co, the most famous English-language
bookshop in Paris

I look around the bookshop, and it's as pokey and
interesting as I have read. I leave and wander through the medieval
streets around St-Julien-le-Pauvre

the Rue de la Huchette and Rue St Jaques, all tiny
and twisting and full of interesting shops and cafes – and
people!

I am heading for the Musée de Cluny, as I've
never seen the tapestries there.

At the end of the 15th century, Jacques d'Amboise, Cluny abbot in
Burgundy (1485-1510), decided to rebuild the Parisian abbey residence
next to the thermal baths. Closed to the city by a blind crenelated
wall, pierced by only a wagon gate and a door,

the facility is made of up a group of residences with two wings
encircling a court. Its two stories are topped by a high slate roof
dotted with dormers. A balustrade with a heavy overhang hides its
edge.

The levels can be reached by three spiral staircases.

Inside, the hotel (de Cluny) has maintained its original layout:
the size of the rooms, the façade and the chapel.

The Musée de Cluny is known as the Museum of the Middle
Ages. Many works of art and sculpture have been brought here from
around France to show how people lived in the Middle Ages. It is a
most fascinating museum, and if you have never visited it you should
definitely put it on your schedule for Paris.

Here's an old tablet

and the whole museum is hung with tapestries, with lovely colours
still vibrant and intact

The most famous tapestries in the Musée de Cluny are the
set known as The Lady and the Unicorn. These were commissioned by a
wealthy family in Bordeaux on the engagement of their daughter. The
unicorn symbolises the virginity and innocence of the lady. There are
6 tapestries, and 5 of them portray the different senses. Because
there are so many photos on this page already, and more to come, I've
created a separate page for these ones, which you can find here.

I wandered more through the museum. There's lovely carved
furniture, illuminated manuscripts, parts of old churches, not to
mention the Cluny Abbot's house itself

and this lovely door

I finally managed to tear myself away and sat outside in the
courtyard for some time letting my feet recover and finishing my
water bottle. It's very hot today, around 32. Here's a sundial from
the wall

I then left and went for a little walk down the Boulevard St
Germain, but I was too tired to shop. So I went back to the Citadines
via the metro, and changed my shoes. After a small rest, I headed out
again.

The first time I'd been in the Place des Vosges I hadn't had my
camera, so I had some pictures to take!

One of the interesting things (amongst thousands!) that happen in
Paris during summer is that part of the banks of the Seine get turned
into Paris Plage. Beach huts are set up, sand is strewn around, bars
with sun umbrellas, sunbeds, live music, water, swimming pools,
gelato bars – everything one needs to feel that one is at the
beach!! It's really fun!

I left the hotel and walked to the Place des Vosges again.

I walked through the Hotel de Sully, a 17thC palace which houses
photographic exhibitions. Here also is the
headquarters of the Monuments Nationaux, which has reams of info
about France's national monuments.

Front

and back

this brings you out onto the Rue St Antoine and then its a quick
walk to the Rue St Paul and on to the river, exploring the little
interesting shops along the way. I walked along the river, though
part of Paris Plage, then decided to catch the batobus. This is a
boat that travels down one side of the Seine, from Hotel de Ville
past the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, the Tour Eiffel, then up the
other past the Musee D'Orsay, St Germain-des-Pres, Notre Dame and the
Jardin des Plantes. You can hop on and off as many times as you like,
for 11E for a day ticket. I hopped on at Hotel de Ville and stayed on
until Jardin Des Plantes, which is near the Gare d'Austerlitz and
from which the metro runs to Rue Richard Lenoir.

Here are the sights I saw along the river.

And then I walked home and collapsed!!

We met up with our friends again around 9 for dinner at Enoteca, a
Michelin-selected restaurant in St Paul. Sadly, it wasn't as good as
Chez Guy, in fact the meal at Chez Guy would be the best meal we ate
in France. It was strange to go to an Italian restaurant in France!
The ambience was good, the service exceptionally kind and attentive.
The food was good too, just not great. Anyway, it was still fun for
our last night in France, the last night of our long 3 month holiday.

We only have 2 full days in Paris. Today is Sunday, and the Tour
de France is ending here in Paris today.

We start out separately. The boys get bikes and ride to the Eiffel
Tower, then they intend to go to the Champs Elysee to get a spot for
the race. I meet up with our friends and the 5 of us go to the market
in Place d'Aligre. While I am waiting for them I walk through the
market that has been set up across the road in the park that
separates both sides of the Rue Richard Lenoir. Its a huge market and
I have a lot of fun looking at it. My friends arrive and we walk up
Rue St Antoine to the market at Place d'Aligre. Its not bad, but
nothing like the one I just left, and the daughter of my friends
wants to buy some jewellery.

So after a coffee we split up again, we three girls going back to
the market near Bastille, and the other 2 heading off to get a spot
to watch the Tour de France. My boys are at the Arc de Triomphe end
and my friends are intending to go to the Place de la Concorde end,
with thousands of people in between.

We girls take about an hour and a half to do the market, then we
head to Bonne Soeurs for lunch. After lunch and a welcome rose, we
decide to head for the Louvre. We sms the boys that that is where we
will be and take the metro. We get out in the Louvre Carousel, a
brand new shopping centre built under the Louvre. That proves
irresistible to us, so after a couple of hours shopping we stop for a
cafe near the entrance to the Louvre.

Its 4.30 by this time, and my boys arrive to meet us, as there
seems to be no sign yet of the Tour de France. We decide its too late
to go to the Louvre, as it shuts at 6, but we hear that the cyclists
are coming. We race out into the Tuileries and catch the cyclists as
they pass by!

Our family heads home, and the 2 other girls go in search of their
family members, still around the Place de la Concorde, I think.

Later that evening we walk to their apartment in Rue de
Bourg-Tibourg in the Marais. Its a Sunday night, and the place is
jumping. All the bars and cafes are full, and they say they have to
keep the windows and doors closed if they want some quiet. But its so
colurful and full of life, such gorgeous people having such fun! We
walk to Rue du Rosiers and find a great gay falafel place, where even
the lights wear feather boas. The food is really good, plentiful and
cheap, and its bursting at the seams. After dinner we feel like an
ice-cream, but the queues are too long at all 3 places we try. Seems
everyone has the same idea! Instead, we say goodnight to our friends
and take a long slow walk home, looking at the interesting shops
along the way, and arriving home well past midnight. Pity about the
ice-cream!

The boys took some lovely photos of Paris whilst they were out and
about. Here's a selection:

24 August 2008

As you can see its covered in the ubiquitous concrete that all the houses seem to favour in this part of France. In the south, the lovely local stone is shown off, whether grey or golden. But here in the north the fashion seems to be to spray the houses with a concrete coat. Most of the older houses are thousands of shades of grey, while the newer ones favour pale gold, which is at least more attractive.

The villages here are not as "pretty" as in the south, as the houses tend to be built up to the roads and sprayed with grey concrete. Many villages are just a collection of farm buildings. The shutters are not painted bright colours, and there's little in the way of flower boxes. I imagine its much colder and poorer here than the south. As well, the farms here are immense - in the south you would see a fields of wheat and dotted amongst them villages, churches and farms, but here in the north one field will extend as far as the eye can see in every direction, broken only by a line of trees along the hill top. So the population is not as dense, and farming is very intense.

Then its on the expressway to Paris. The car has to be returned to
CDG airport, so we head straight there. The road guide says its a 5
hour trip but we make it in 4. We have a map that shows us where the
car has to be returned, but that doesn't seem to exist. We drive
around terminals 2 and 3 a few times then eventually find something
that resembles a car yard. We go in and ask, and yes this is it. We
hand over the car and they call a taxi to take us to our hotel in
Paris.

(A note: we drove just over 16,000km in 3 months in this little Peugeot (yes, that's 16,000km), and that doesn't count the extra 1200km we had to drive back to Ovadia in Italy to swap the Renault for the Peugeot. A lot of driving was done by young J!!)

An hour later we are checked in and ready to go!!!

We are staying the Marais, in the Citidines Bastille, not far from
Bastille station in Rue Richard Lenoir. Its on the edge of the Marais
really. We have friends staying deep in the heart of the Marais in
Rue de Bourg-Tibourg. We arrange to meet in the Place des Vosges.
There is a park in the middle of this gorgeous square and beautiful
buildings with colonnades all around.

We find a great cafe for lunch (Bonne Soeurs, which we will re-visit a few times!) where we have
fabulous salads and sandwiches. We meet our friends and go for a walk
in the St Paul area of the Marais, to the Red Wheelbarrow bookshop as
I am out of reading material. We buy some books and then go our
separate ways for a while.

Paris has bicycle racks all around the city for tourists to use. You simply insert your crd, take a (working) bike, ride wherever you want and then lock it into the nearest bike rack and go on your way. Such a great idea for getting around a city! We bought 3 cards, and the boys decided to head off for a
test ride while I did some catching up on the internet.

We had booked at Brasserie Bofinger, one of the most famous of
Parisian brasseries, for dinner with our friends at 11pm, the only
time they could take us. We'd been advised to try this by other Oz foodies.
There is a famous art nouveau ceiling downstairs, and we glimpsed it
as we were whisked upstairs to our table in the corner. I had a lamb
stew, nothing really flashy, though the others enjoyed the meal very
much. Including 2 bottles of wine between 4 of us, the bill was 350E
for 8, not a cheap meal at all. Not really worth the price, I felt,
but we were also paying for service, which was good, as well as the
atmosphere.

We left after 1, then 6 of us decide to head for a jazz bar. We
went to the China Club in Rue de Charenton. It's an old classic,
still going strong. It's decorated like a Hong Kong businessman's
club, leather lounges and low lighting, potted palms and red velvet
wallpaper. We order a cocktail, but sadly the bar closes 30 minutes
later so we finish our drinks and begin the walk home. We tumble
into bed around 3.

23 August 2008

Today we decided that we should visit Nancy. We left
late and drove there on the motorway, arriving around 1pm.

Nancy is reputed to be one of the loveliest of
French cities, and it is certainly worth a visit. It achieved prominence as the capital of the Duchy of
Lorraine, which was held by most of the French princes before they
became king. The last Duke of Lorraine was Stanislas of Poland, and
on his death the duchy became a French province. When the Lorraine
was created in the middle of the 20th C, Metz was made the
capital. Nancy is the capital of the prefecture (department) of the
Meurthe-et-Moselle.

It has some lovely sights. We parked in an
underground car park under Cours Leopold and walked into the old
town, looking for a restaurant for lunch. We found one in one of the
pedestrian malls. I had the confit duck as
it was the special, and I think the boys had steaks. It was very
nice lunch, colourful placemats, good service and well-cooked food, plus a nice rose!

We then headed for the tourist office in the famous Place
Stanislas.

This is an enormous square, surrounded by
lovely buildings, full of cafes and at each corner a fabulous ornate
gate and fountain. There's a great panoramic photo on Wikipedia,
but here's mine with just a few of the buildings

and a few more

And here is one of the ornate gates with fountains that are at
each of the 4 corners

We walked around the square, admiring the cafes we
had obviously missed out on, and went up towards the New Town.
However, we decided to stay in the Old Town instead. The Old Town is
that part of Nancy that expanded rapidly in the Middle Ages around
the Duke’s castle. In the 16thC the most modern defensive walls
and bastions of the period were built to protect it. Nothing remains
of them today except for a small part of the walls discovered during
the renovation of the Fine Arts Museum.

We went up one of the wide clean shopping streets to
an internet cafe. After a brief surf (and this internet cafe had 9 (
!! ) brand new iMacs sitting around waiting to be used), we went to
get an ice cream and visit the Parc du Pepiniere, where we lay on the
grass for a bit feeling the effects of a large lunch!

We then looked at our book for the walking tour of
Nancy. There are far too many interesting things to see here and we
really don't have enough time to see them all, plus my back is
killing me again so I am not a happy camper. Anyway, walking is
better than sitting which is better than lying, so off we go
exploring.

First we visit the Porte de la Graffe

This old gateway into Nancy was built at the end of
the 14th century as part of the walls encircling the town. The large
twin towers flanking the gate were added on at the end of the 15th
century and were used as prisons. The small lantern above the main
gate dates back to the 17th century and contained a bell which rang
out the hours of the day, the beginning of the curfew and informed
the population of public executions. The Lorraine Cross on the facade
is a reminder that the emblem was adopted after the victory of the
Battle of Nancy

We walked though this a few times as its lovely
inside (surprisingly!!)

but didn't make it to the gate on the other side, the
Porte de la Citadelle. We retraced our steps and came to the Eglise
de Cordeliers, the church named after the Franciscans who wear a cord
around their waist. The church and the monastery beside it date from
the 1470s.

We walked around this, although there are some
renovations going on to the adjoining monastery, then continued on to
the Ducal Palace. Built in the 15thC, this was originally the
residence of the Dukes of Lorraine. Abandoned by Duke Leopold, who
moved to Lunéville in the 18thC, it became the Lorraine Museum
in 1848. All that is left is part of a wing and a doorway. At one
stage it was used as a stables!!

It was restored after a fire in 1848 and the
gargoyles and high sloping roof were put back

From there we walked back to the Place Stanislas,
entering at the Hemicycle Generalle de Gaulle

before turning right and crossing the streets to the
Basilica de Epvre. This stands in the old market square and general
trading centre of the Middle Ages. It was built in the 19thC by
Prosper Morey and is decorated with stained glass and wood paneling
in part made in Bavaria. It was richly endowed by Napoleon III,
Emperor Franz-Joseph, Ludwig II of Bavaria and Pope Pius... who
donated the beautiful stone paving in the choir that came from the
Appian Way.

We went inside and it was absolutely beautiful. The outside is
being cleaned at the moment and here's a view of the other side

After walking around the Basilica we went in search
of the Art Nouveau for which Nancy is also famous. On our way we
passed the Haussonville Mansion. The Haussonville Mansion dates back
to the 16th C and is one of the most beautiful houses in
the Old Town. It is built of two main parts set at an angle. There
are two galleries, one of open-stonework in the gothic style running
along the first floor, and the other in the renaissance style along
the second.

There is an Art Nouveau museum, the Ecole de Nancy,
but its in the outer suburbs so we didn't go there. Some of the old
buildings in the town have Art Nouveau features. Here is a selection
from around the Cours Leopold

We left the old town section of Nancy, and here's a
last photo of Nancy, showing the New Town. Founded by Duke Charles
III in 1588, with its streets all at right angles the New Town has a
totally different layout to the Old. It has its own market square and
a famous parish church: the Primatial (today’s Cathedral). It
was in a position to rival the Old Town as it even had its own
independent fortifications.

We then left Nancy and headed back to Vandieres.

We have decided to leave at the crack of dawn
tomorrow in order to maximise our time in Paris. We've made
arrangements to have the house inspected and get back our deposit
tonight.

After we did that we headed back to Pont a Mousson
for a last dinner. We ate in a delightful cafe full of locals, and
our waiter was a lovely young man whose dream it is to come to
Australia. I had a fabulous flammekuchen.

Our last night in the moulin, and we are all packed
before we fall into bed, ready to be up and away early.

Today we have been invited to lunch at the
Chateau de Puxe,
where the owners of the Moulin de la Thuile live. The moulin used to
be their home for many years, and they farmed the land around the
house, but 5 years ago they bought the Chateau and turned the moulin
into a holiday gite. The Chateau is a Ferme Auberge, meaning that 70%
of the produce eaten there comes from the land they farm, and they
have a license to prove it.

The chateau is about 45km from the moulin, so we
drove over and arrived about 12.30. We were met by the owner, Agnes
Choné and her husband, her youngest son and daughter. There
are 2 other sons, one lives in Lille and the other was working on a
neighbouring farm during the holidays.

The Chonés do not live in the Chateau. They
have converted the left wing into a B&B with 5 rooms, and the
right wing into 2 apartments of 2 bedrooms each. The central wing is
unrenovated and empty. There is a large dining room and kitchen under
the apartments in the right wing, and this is where they serve the Ferme Auberge meals.
They actually live in the farmhouse beside the chateau. The Chonés
are a really lovely couple and their daughter is vivacious,
intelligent and has great English!

First we were given an aperitif to drink. It appeared
to be cherries and an eau-de-vie in champagne, and was a bright red
colour. Very tasty and a trifle alcoholic. We chatted in French –
I am the only French speaker of the 4 of us, and their daughter was
the only English speaker of the 4 of them. She has just spent a year
travelling around Australia and working here.

We then sat down, all 8 of us together, and a large
puff-pastry packet containing leeks in a lovely cheese sauce was
served. Extremely tasty. G had chosen a Nuits St George from the
wine-list and that was absolutely delicious with it.

After the leek pastry, we were served with lovely
country roast chicken (home grown) in a tasty sauce, with beans,
potatoes, carrots, onions and peas, all from the farm. Agnes is a
fabulous cook and was recently on French television cooking just this
chicken dish. After this very tasty meal came a cheese plate,
containing some goats cheeses, some lovely blue and a creamy
camembert. We ate this with a fresh green salad and the bread that
had been served with lunch. After this, Agnes brought tall glasses of
dessert, home-grown and home-cooked Mirabelle plums (which are unique to
the Lorraine) with cream and ice-cream. Her husband bought out a
cremant from the south, made by Agnes' brother, which was lovely with
the dessert. We then had coffee and some home-made mirabelle plum
brandy.

The meal was absolutely delicious, and the company
wonderful. Although only I spoke French, the daughter spoke excellent
English, which meant that my family were included in the conversations.
But I made an attempt to speak French at least half the time, so that
Agnes and her family could also feel included.

After lunch Agnes presented us with a bottle of
mirabelle plums in syrup and a bottle of mirabelle plum jam, both of
which she had made herself. They then took us on a tour of the farm,
showing us the greenhouses, the little stream and the sheds where the
chickens and guinea-hens live. The chickens and guinea-hens eggs had
just hatched, so we held one of these tiny animals each. The
guinea-hens are particularly lovely.

We left about 4 as the family had to be in Metz by 5
to deliver some vegetables.

It was a fabulous day, and such an honour and a
privilege to be included in the life of the family for a day. It is moments such as these that make a holiday truly memorable.

Vandieres and many of the surrounding towns were inside the German
front lines in WW1. This area of the Lorraine has borne the brunt of
France's wars with invaders – Prussians, Germans, Swedes etc.
The German border is not too far away, so the invaders were able to
access their supply lines whilst occupying a lot of French territory.
The Alsace and much of the Lorraine have been German or Austrian
conquests many times in their history.

On Sunday, after our large lunch in town with many French
families, we took a drive outside Pont a Mousson in the vicinity of
Thiaucourt-Regnieville. We stopped at a German War Cemetery where
there are over 11,000 German war dead from WW1. The crosses are
black, and most bear the names of 4 soldiers, so the cemetery is
smaller than it might otherwise be. There are beds of mixed
wildflowers planted around the area, and it is bordered by trees. It
sits alone in a field of green waving corn, with the main road
running past. There's a small mailbox at the gate with some
information about German War Cemeteries. We took no pnotos of these
war cemeteries, though when I was looking on the net for any information
about the German Cemetery at Thiaucourt I came across a rather
telling story

They
shall not grow old as we who are left grow old

Age
shall not weary them nor the years condemn

At
the going down of the sun and in the morning

We
will remember them

We
were to say that nearly a hundred times more before the trip was
over. We took turns and, when it was my turn, I frequently stumbled
over the words. I so often felt that, at many of the places where we
stood in our little act of remembrance, people hadn't remembered
them.

And I felt this often at these sad war cemeteries. The flowers are
kept bright, and the grass cut, but is it only the War Graves
Councils that visit these cemeteries?

We left this one and drove towards Pont a Mousson, then stopped at
the French Military Cemetery at Montauville Le Petant. Again, I tried
to find more details of this cemetery on the net but was not able to.
This cemetery is built on a hill, and contains WW1 dead, WW11 dead, a
large contingent of Algerian dead with ornate grave markers, and a
lovely sculpture which is a memorial to the French who died in camps
in Germany as prisoners of war, erected by their comrades who were
liberated. Another section of the cemetery marks the graves of some
of these dead. I found this picture, link to the website is here

That long introduction was to set the scene for today's visit to
Verdun.

Verdun is about 85km east and slightly north of Pont a Mousson.
Many of you know that Verdun was where one of the most critical
battles of WW1 was fought, in February 1916. The Battle of Verdun is
considered to be one of the most brutal events of World War I, and
the site itself is remembered as the "battlefield with the
highest density of dead per square yard." The Germans has set out to fight it as a warof attrition - if France lost too many men the war would be over as there would be no more soldiers. But the French motto 'On ne passerent pas' - they shall not pass - was to hold them true to their cause.

There is an
underground citadel in Verdun, the Citdelle Souterraine, with 7km of
underground galleries that were designed by Vauban in the 1600s and
completed in 1838. During WWI they served as shelter and hospitals
for soldiers, and now there is an audiovisual display that has been
set up to show the life of a soldier in WWI. You catch a small train
that takes you through the exhibition. It is very cold, only 7
degrees C underground, and blankets are provided. The exhibition is
rather dated and because of that has lost some of its sad message.
540,000 frenchmen were killed or wounded in the 10month battle, and
430,000 Germans. It signifies for the French, more than any other
battle, the utter carnage and waste of WW1.

The country side around Verdun and indeed along the trench lines
of WWI was so badly shelled and cratered that in 1924, it was decided
to cover the former battlefields with pine forests and these were
planted between 1929 and 1933. The pines could survive on the
poisoned soil and they helped rejuvenate the land allowing the former
native deciduous trees to be replanted. The craters under the trees
are still very evident.

The town itself was decorated for its bravery in the war. On 13 September 1916, President Poincaré handed the city's council the honours bestowed on the town by foreign heads of state and the French government in a ceremony which was attended by Generals Joffre, Pétain and Nivelle and many other dignitaries:-

The Russian St. George Crossthe British Military Cross the French Legion of Honour and the War Cross with palm the Italian Gold Medal for Valourthe Serbian Gold Obilitch Medalthe Belgian Order of Leopold I - Military Division - Knight classa Montenegro Miloch Obilitch Medal.

The town itself is now a pleasant sleepy small town, divided by
the river Meuse.

It was a lovely day and we had lunch at one of the many many cafes
that line the river on the right had side. Ahead of you, as you cross
the bridge with this scene on your left, is the old entrance to the
city, the Tour Chaussée

On the other side of the river to this tower is the Memorial Aux
Enfants, to the dead of Verdun and France. All the French dead are
called 'the children of France' on these monuments. This is also
called the Poilu Memorial – a poilu is a footsoldier.

After lunch we walked to the Citadelle Souterraine. On the way we
passed the Victory Monument

Verdun is a pretty town, and here's a last shot of the Circle des
Officiers, the French Army Officer's Club, though I don't know what
it is used for these days.

After visiting the Citadelle we left Verdun and drove across
country to the Montsec Monument. This commemorates the capture of the
Saint-Mihial Salient by American troops, one of their first actions
of WW1, in 1918.

and inside

Inside as well are engraved the
names of towns where battles were fought- "THIAUCOURT –
VIGNEULLES – FRESNES – VIEVILE – ST. BENOIT –
NORROY – BENEY – JAULNY – FRAPELLE – HAUMONT
– ST. HILAIRE – XAMMES – NONSARD – VILCEY –
ST. BAUSSANT – VANDIERES". There is also a stone
relief map of the countryside and the battle front. Montsec stands
high on a hill with a lovely view around the countryside.

We left and headed to the village of Liverdun. Liverdun is
separated into 2 distinct villages, upper and lower. Haut Liverdun is
above the river Moselle

The medieval town is entered through this lovely gate

This is the door of the tourist office,which sadly closed 10
minuted before we arrived.

This is apparently an old posting inn. The main reason for coming
to Liverdun was to see the church which is supposed to be lovely, but
alas it too was closed

17 August 2008

Today we got up early and headed out for Luxembourg. It's only
about 1½ hours away, and we want to be there around 10.30am.
After driving around the city about 4 times, missing the entrance to
parking stations because the signs abruptly stop pointing the way, we
ended up taking the next parking station we happened across. It was
just a hop and a step away from the Old Centre!

J and I had been to Luxembourg in 1987, 21 years ago. We had loved
it so much then that we made 2 trips into the city from France. We
had gone in late autumn, when the parks and gardens that clothe the
city were full of amber, red and gold trees. Luxembourg is built on
the top of a flat hill, and the sides of the hills are tree-filled
parks. The Old Centre is a very pretty place. So we were interested
to see how Luxembourg might have changed in the intervening 21 years,
and in a different season.

First, there are a lot more tourists! Most of the Old Centre is
now a pedestrian precinct, with lots and lots of restaurants! We
walked up the shopping street looking for the tourist office so we
could get a map. It was a grey day, with some drizzle, and quite cool
too.

We stopped for a coffee and some free wi-fi, then headed into the
old city.

That's the Ducal Palace in the background. We found the tourist
office, got a map and decided to head back and find a restaurant for
lunch. We ate at a very nice place not far from where the above photo
was taken. G had a hamburger, N a chicken burger, J a steak and I had
stir fried beef with noodles, which was very tasty indeed. G and I
both had a glass of St Emilion Grand Cru, delicious. Thus fortified,
we headed back out to be tourists.

The Ducal Palace is at the end of this main walking street

It's a lovely building and has been cleaned since we were here last, so
that the designs on the stonework can be seen.

One of the things we wanted to do whilst we were here was to take
the boys on a tour of the Casemates. Luxembourg has over 24km of
tunnels inside the hill that it is built on. Each time it was
captured, the new owner built some tunnels and fortified the city. In
1870-something Luxembourg was given its independence but in return it
was to dismantle the fortifications and close the tunnels. This was
just about impossible with the city on top, so 17km still remain. 4km
are open to the public. In 1987 J and I had done the tour of the
Casemates.

Before we did the tour we decided to walk down through the parks
on the side of the 'hill' of the Old Centre to the little river that
runs through the valley. There is a wide traffic bridge between the
old town and the new, crossing over the valley

As you can see, the trees are green now in summer, but you can
imagine what these hills look like in autumn when the leaves are
changing. This photo was taken standing on the viewpoint just where
you go down into the Casemates, that is, with the ducal palace behind
you. The valley area is called the Grund.

We walked to the bridge, and took another photo looking back
towards the old Centre. Here you can see the fortifications in the
side of the hill. These are houses built in the Grund

Here's the Old Centre looking back from the right hand edge of
this bridge, with the spires of the Ducal Palace on the left.

We walked down into the valley and spent about half an hour down
there,then climbed back up and joined the tour. It takes about an
hour to go through the Casemates, down some very slippery stairs deep
under the city. The tour was different to the one we did 21 years
ago; back then we did not go down the Austrian Staircase,
but we had spent more time looking at old gun emplacements and old
cannons. There was 1 cannon in the tunnels on this tour, and the
guide said the rest of them are in museums. I think we did more steps
but less kilometres overall, this time.

We came back into the Old Centre and stopped at this cafe for hot
chocolate and cakes. Yummmmmm!!

We left Luxembourg and headed back to France and the Moulin de
la Thuile. A light supper at home as we were still full from lunch.

The house has an abundance of maps and information for tourists, for all the departments of Lorraine as well as Nancy, Metz and Luxembourg. Today we decided to take a drive around, as one of our guidebooks has a large circular drive from Nancy around to Verdun and back via Metz. We are going to do part of that today.

The first stop is Jouy aux Arches, called so because of the presence of a ruined Roman aqueduct cross the main road.

We walked around a bit then hopped back in the car and headed for Metz (pronounced Mess, no 't'). We parked underground and came up at the entrance to the pedestrian mall. We'd arrived around 4.30, so things were beginning to wind down for the day. The shops looked interesting – Metz and Nancy are the big towns in this part of France.

At the end of then shopping district we came out into a square where the cathedral is, the church of Saint Etienne.

It's rather nice inside, very tall, with lovely stained glass windows at each end. I found out later that they were designed by Marc Chagall!!!

Here's the main window and the lovely entrance door

We left the cathedral and walked down the hill. Here's a good shot of the back of the cathedral

We went on towards the river – Metz is also on the Moselle.

Just on the left side of this photo is another pretty church, though this one wasn't open. It's the Temple Neuf, built whilst Metz was annexed to Germany, between 1901 and 1904. I read tghat its classical roman lines were seen as an affront to the elegance and typically French architecture of the Place de la Comedie, I think the buikdings above front on to the Place. This church is now used for concerts. It is built on a little island in the Moselle.

The bridge from which this picture was taken leads back into the pedestrian area, you can see the bridge we crossed over on, in the right background. We walked back through the hurrying pedestrians. Metz has many interesting sights, the Comedie, the Opera, as well as the Arsenal, used for musical concerts, for which Metz prides itself. But we didn't go out of our way to see any of these - we just walked around the city for a little while, before heading back to the Moulin de la Thuile, about an hour's journey home.

I think we had dinner at McDonalds (!!!) in Pont a Mousson because they have free wi-fi! On the way back home through Pont a Mousson we discovered a tiny cafe that has internet also, and we called in and checked it out. No USB ports, so it won't be any use to upload the blog.

Rather damp today, and we needed shopping and washing. As it is a Sunday, there's no tourist office and no possibility of finding an internet cafe.

We slept in then drove into Pont a Mousson to find a cafe for lunch. Sunday is the big eating out day here in France, and most people book at a cafe for a long and large family lunch.

We drove into the main square and parked, then walked around the colonnades looking at the different cafes. There are about 8 cafes in the square, which is a broad cobbled circular expanse with some parking and a temporary strage in one corner, all surrounded by colonnaded arches. We opted for the cafe that looked the most popular, though we noted ohne with a 'Michelin selected' sticker for another time.

I had the house speciality, wood fired pork chops, G and N both had steaks and J had a salad. Not overly fantastic, though the place was absolutely packed and everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was noisy and busy and full of life, a really fun place to eat, even though the food was ok but not great. Friendly service too.

A brief walk around the river – the Moselle River flows through the town and splits it in half. The section with the pretty houses of the old bourgeoisie is on the west side

Pont a Mousson has a very famous old Abbey, which was an abbey for bishops, the Abbey des Premontres. It is now used for art exhibitions and concerts. In our time in this area we never visited it!This is a picture of the church of St Martin, which is directly on the Moselle river, on the west bank.

We went for a drive after lunch (see entry of 23 July) then back to the house around 7pm. I think we are all a little disappointed that we are in the industrial heartland of France. We'll see what we can see tomorrow.